Roger E. Olson's Blog, page 159

Why (High) Calvinism Is Impossible

Why (High) Calvinism Is Impossible By “impossible” I don’t mean, of course, “doesn’t exist.” I mean “exists but doesn’t work.” By “doesn’t work” I mean “cannot be believed consistently and coherently.” In brief, my argument is that belief in the Bible as God’s Word and motivation to engage in its exegesis presupposes belief that God [Read More...]

What Attracts People into the Young, Restless, Reformed Movement?

What Attracts People into the Young, Restless, Reformed Movement? That is probably the question I’m asked most often when I talk about the “new Calvinism” that has swept up thousands of Christian young people in the last twenty to thirty years. There’s no doubt this has been and is a religious phenomenon. Most recently even [Read More...]

When Jesus Said “Follow Me” Did He Mean “On Twitter?” Ethics and Social Networking

When Jesus Said “Follow Me” Did He Mean “On Twitter?” Ethics and Social Networking The Knudsen Lecture in Ethics, March 10, 2014, University of Sioux Falls Roger E. Olson Foy Valentine Professor of Christian Theology and Ethics George W. Truett Theological Seminary “Our on line relationships are totally manageable and therefore shallow.”   Many years [Read More...]

John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, Austin Fischer, and God

So, John Piper has now responded to Austin Fischer’s book “Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed” (Wipf & Stock, 2013). (For those of you who don’t know, Austin is Teaching Pastor at The Vista Community in Belton/Temple, Texas and his book is a run-away seller about his spiritual and theological journey in and out of Calvinism.) [Read More...]

A Final Word about the “Gay Wedding Cake” Issue

I simply don’t have time to moderate scores of messages every day. Whenever I touch on “gay” issues people who normally never come here flood my comment box with arguments pro and con. It’s obviously a very controversial issue. But what bothers me is that even when I BEG people to stick to the issue [Read More...]

My Response (Finally!) to John Piper’s “AskPastorJohn” Episode 238 (About Me)

Many people have asked me to listen to and respond to John Piper’s comments about me and about Arminianism on his episode 238 (of his podcast “AskPastorJohn”) entitled “Where’s the Arminian John Piper?” You can find it by Googling it or going to Piper’s web site.  Many of you heard it and asked me to [Read More...]

Thoughts about the “Gay Marriage” Debate and Christians’ Rights

Thoughts about the “Gay Marriage” Debate and Christians’ Rights             I have already stated here and elsewhere how I think the “gay marriage” debate should be settled. Get government out of the business of decided who’s “married” and let government decide who may enjoy the privileges of “civil union.” My suggestion is that any two [Read More...]

What Is “History of…?”

Lately I’ve been thinking about the nature of history. Not “history” as in “what happened in the past” but “history” as in the “study of the past. ” My thoughts about this were sparked by reading a book that purports to be a “history” of a certain denomination. I opened it with interest as it [Read More...]

Arminianism and Providence

One of the questions I’m asked most often is about God’s providence in Arminian theology. Most people know that Arminians do not believe that God micromanages history or human lives–especially not in terms of evil. That is, Arminians do not believe that God designs, foreordains or renders certain sinful acts. Sin and evil are included [Read More...]

Is Arminianism “Reformed?”

Is Arminianism “Reformed?” A minor controversy exists among Arminian scholars (and some non-Arminian Reformed scholars have chimed in) about whether classical Arminianism can legitimately lay claim to being part of the Reformed theological tradition. The question is this: Was and is Arminianism such a deviation from classical Reformed theology that it ought to be considered [Read More...]